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This is a sport that has no place for the sheepish among you. You’ve got to be tough, fast, and precise with the clippers. That’s why shearing is a competitive event in New Zealand, and some people there want the Olympic Games to host it as a demonstration sport:
Maxwell said men’s and women’s world record-holders, Ivan Scott of Ireland and Kerri-Jo Te Huia of New Zealand, showed the athleticism necessary to reach the top of world shearing.
“Ivan regained his world eight-hour solo lamb title by shearing 749 lambs, seven more than the previous world record,” she said.
“Kerri-Jo smashed the women’s eight-hour solo lamb shearing world record by shearing 507 lambs, 37 more than the previous record.”
To be accepted on the Olympic program, a sport first must be recognized by the International Olympic Committee by being widely practiced around the world and administered by an international federation that ensures that the sport’s activities follow the Olympic Charter.
Link -via MetaFilter | Photo: Flickr user NatalieMaynor
60 Minutes ran an interesting piece on Olympic snowboarding sensation Shaun White last night. Informative as always, and full of facts about the athlete, the neatest part had to be near the beginning when he showed Bob Simon the halfpipe where he trains alone, and away from prying competitor eyes. It’s a 500 foot pipe carved into ice near Silverton, Colorado. The only way to get there is by helicopter.
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I’m writing today live from Vancouver, and all attention is on the Olympics- opening tonight. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that I’m in Vancouver, Washington. Located 250 miles south of the Canadian city, Vancouver, WA has had a long history of being confused with its more populated neighbor.
And, for the past few weeks, a number of people have booked hotel rooms here, thinking they were calling the British Columbia city.
The Hilton Vancouver Washington has also fielded Olympic enquiries and trained its reservations staff to be sensitive to the possible mistake and, naturally, turn it into a marketing opportunity.
“We absolutely want them to come here,” Gerry Link, the hotel’s general manager said, adding of the Vancouver mix-ups: “So far it has all been pretty good-natured.”
To prevent any problems, the Hilton is also scouring its mid-February reservations and calling people who it fears might have booked rooms in the wrong country.
It’s only natural that Washington state would be mixed up with the Games, anyway. We have the Olympic Peninsula as well as the Olympic Forest, so it’s rather understandable. Meanwhile, residents are kind of fed up with the confusion, and are contemplating changing the name to Fort Vancouver. It’s gotten so bad, a resident designed a t-shirt that reads “”Vancouver (not B.C), Washington (not D.C.), Clark County (not Nevada), Near Portland, Oregon (not Maine).”
Link (Photo: Esther Short Park in Vancouver, WA on Matt Downey‘s Flickr photostream)
If you’ve never seen Tillman the bulldog ride a skateboard, check it out. We also featured his ability to transfer his love of the board to video games; here he is trying to play along to Tony Hawk. He also surfs.
Now, Tillman has set his sights to winter, and snowboarding. Skateboarding Magazine.com has the story of his role in the upcoming Olympics, along with Rose- a kindred spirit in all things board. Aww.
Link via The Cellar Image of the Day (Photo byDamian Dovarganes)
Photo: geishaboy500 [Flickr]
Neatorama’s own Johnny Cat has got the best idea concerning the Olympics that I’ve heard in a long time. Here it is, in his own words:
After some dull moments in beach volleyball, I realized the Games could use a little perk in athleticism, namely the greatest new sport/subversive activity: Parkour
Sure beats skateboarding. IOC, are you listening? And if you don’t know what Parkour is, here’s the founder performing a Super Mario Parkour [Google Video]
